“Haha…… What are you saying?”

However, the stiffness lasted only for a moment.

Bentley immediately smiled good-naturedly, waving his hands as if to say don’t talk nonsense.

“I really like playing board games. Why would I pretend to enjoy it?”

“But, you’re thinking it’s boring.”

Bonita objected.

“The other kids smile much more brightly when they’re really having fun.”

“Bonita…… That’s different for each person.”

He said, drooping his eyebrows.

“You’re still young so you might not know, but as people get older, they don’t smile widely like fools even when they’re having fun.”

“……You’re ten years old too?”

“There’s a huge difference between seven and ten.”

He raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘don’t you know that?’ while folding his arms.

“How many times a day do you eat?”

“Three times.”

“Then how many times in a month?”

“Uh……”

Bonita, who had never learned to count, stammered.

Then Bentley kindly explained.

“Since there are thirty days in a month, it’s thirty times three, so ninety times.”

“Okay.”

“Then how many times do you eat in a year?”

This time, Bentley, seemingly knowing Bonita wouldn’t be able to answer, immediately launched into an explanation without pause.

“The answer is one thousand and eighty times. And in three years, I’ve eaten three thousand two hundred and forty more meals than you! Now do you understand this enormous difference?”

“Okay……”

I don’t understand what he’s saying.

Bonita nodded, looking slightly dazed.

Seeing her blank expression, Bentley shrugged his shoulders smugly.

“So I’m right. Do you agree?”

Bonita stared at him blankly for a moment, then soon shook her head.

Bentley clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘She looks naive, but she’s more stubborn than I thought.’

This was troublesome.

He kneaded his face. No matter how he looked at it, his acting should have been perfect.

The boy’s eyes narrowed.

‘How did she figure it out?’

Certainly, if it weren’t for his father’s instructions, Bentley would have had no desire to become friends with Bonita.

It wasn’t because he particularly disliked her. Rather, considering their age difference, it was only natural.

To a ten-year-old boy, Bonita, who was only seven and timid with a small frame, felt like a much younger sibling.

‘Besides, she seems a bit stupid too.’

Even his brother Morgan, who sometimes seemed to have mental issues, had memorized the multiplication table by age seven. He could also read fluently.

Ziiiiing.

Their gazes met.

It was as if they were observing each other.

After a brief, strange standoff, Bonita was the first to speak.

“Bentley. Do you dislike me?”

“No.”

The boy answered immediately.

“I don’t particularly dislike you.”

It was a clear expression of his thoughts, but Bonita looked at his expression and gestures instead of his words. She had already lost trust in what came out of Bentley’s mouth.

‘This time it seems real.’

Perhaps the effect of throwing a straight pitch once, Bentley looked much more comfortable than at first when he was acting exaggeratedly.

Having dropped the act, he wasn’t an energetic boy, but rather looked bored with everything.

He propped his arm up with a nonchalant expression.

“But, you’re quite perceptive. Adults all look on fondly when I do this.”

“Well……”

Bonita said, shrinking her neck.

“I can see it all.”

“You can see?”

“Yes.”

Hearing this, a flicker of interest crossed Bentley’s eyes.

“Then can you tell what other people are thinking by looking at their expressions?”

“Not completely. I’m not a magician after all.”

“Even magicians can’t read people’s minds. You know, they say the only things the Grand Magician in the Empire can’t do are bringing the dead back to life and looking into other people’s minds.”

“If it’s two things, why say ‘only’?”

It was a sharp question.

Bentley made an ‘ugh’ sound and snapped back irritably.

“If it’s just a few things, people say that. Adults are all like that.”

“The adults you think of seem a bit strange.”

“……”

Bentley broke out in a cold sweat.

‘Is she not stupid after all?’

Honestly, looking at her actions, he thought she was quite slow and dumb, but she had not only noticed his emotions but also hit the nail on the head in unexpected areas.

Bonita’s mouth opened again.

“So, why did you deliberately act like that earlier?”

“Like what?”

“You acted like a five-year-old, not a ten-year-old.”

“What……”

Bentley felt offended at being treated like a five-year-old by someone three years younger.

But thinking about it again, it wasn’t wrong.

His acting was based on imitating his two-year-younger brother Morgan, and Morgan’s mental age didn’t seem to have progressed beyond five no matter how you looked at it.

So this was all the fault of having a baby-like younger brother.

Deep sighs kept escaping his mouth.

“Just…… You don’t need to know.”

He couldn’t let slip anything about his father’s orders, so Bentley just left it at that.

‘She seems smarter than I thought.’

It would be a big problem if she sensed his father’s scheme with that animal-like instinct.

Young but clever, Bentley knew.

If his father got on the wrong side of his uncle the Duke, even he as the eldest son wouldn’t be safe.

‘Uncle looked scary……’

He had heard rumors.

That the Duke, ruler of the South, was closer to a bear or monster than a human.

At the time, he had inwardly scoffed, wondering how much everyone was exaggerating.

No matter how big a person is, how could they be as large as a real bear?

It was probably just a somewhat fierce appearance and taciturn personality, along with the position of being the kingdom’s only Duke, that inflated those rumors to be more sensational.

……At least, that’s what he thought until he came to the Duke’s mansion.

‘But it was true.’

Luke Lisianthus, whom he had only heard about in rumors, was truly a man just like the rumors said.

Just swinging that huge fist seemed like it would shatter all the bones in his small body.

‘To have such a person as a father.’

You wouldn’t live out your natural lifespan.

Bentley shuddered.

No matter how he thought about it, home was the best.

He just wanted to be held in his mother’s arms and act spoiled.

Sitting in a playroom with this snot-nosed kid…… no, this unexpectedly perceptive brat, was really the worst.

“I’m going to stop playing the board game.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, Bonita soon lost interest in Bentley.

Hopping down from the chair, Bonita approached the bookshelf packed with picture books.

Her small hand swept across the books on the shelf. To keep track of which ones she had read, stickers were placed on the completed books.

‘Found it.’

Bonita picked up one of the picture books without a sticker and plopped down on the comfortable sofa in the playroom.

Then she began to calmly turn the pages.

Bentley approached Bonita’s side and asked.

“Do you like this book?”

“It’s my first time seeing it.”

“Really?”

Bonita focused on the pictures again.

On the other hand, Bentley wasn’t interested in the illustrations at all.

After quickly skimming the few lines of text inserted in the upper paragraph, he urged Bonita.

“Aren’t you going to turn to the next page?”

“I haven’t finished looking yet.”

“You’re a slow reader, huh.”

It was an insignificant jab.

Bonita answered calmly.

“I can’t read.”

“Huh?”

Bentley’s eyes widened.

“Really? Aren’t you seven years old?”

He asked in a tone of surprise.

This time it seemed he was genuinely surprised, not acting, so Bonita felt a little upset.

She felt disrespected.

“I’ve never learned, so I don’t know.”

Thanks to that, Bonita’s tone became more sensitive than before. Even she was surprised at what came out of her mouth.

Bonita reminded herself.

‘No. Be nice.’

In her mind, she recalled what Luke had told her before coming to the playroom.

“Please get along well, Bonita. Bentley is a good child.”

Luke was a good person.

Although she still didn’t have the courage to call him father, every word and action was full of affection and love.

She knew well that he cared for her very much.

So, she didn’t want to fall short of Luke’s expectations.

“Do you want me to teach you?”

Bentley asked then.

Bonita’s head turned.

At her innocent gaze that seemed to ask what he meant, Bentley unconsciously took a step back.

She really looks like a rabbit.

Inwardly muttering that, he added with a nonchalant face.

“I already knew all the letters when I was three. Now I can read books that teenagers in their late teens read.”

Bonita tilted her head.

“Um…… Are you asking for praise?”

“I don’t need it?”

Bentley gave a hollow laugh.

‘Why is her thinking going in that direction?’

She wasn’t an ordinary child in many ways.

“I’m just saying, I’m smart enough that I can teach even a beginner like you. You’d…… be better off if you could read too, right?”

Bonita thought for a moment.

In her short life, she hadn’t had many opportunities to encounter letters.

For the boys and girls living on the streets where Bonita was born and raised, not knowing how to read wasn’t shameful, but natural.

There was no inconvenience in not knowing.

The only letters at home were in the few fairy tale books Aria had obtained, and she memorized every line after hearing them once.

There was no need to read when she knew the content.

“I……”

Bonita explained her thoughts to Bentley.

She said that she hadn’t really had the chance to encounter letters, had never been inconvenienced by not knowing, and so had never thought about wanting to learn.

The boy frowned and objected.

“Do you know how many interesting books there are in the world?”